This article comprises reflections on the changes to the Henry A.
Murray Research Archive, catalyzed by involvement with the National
Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program
(NDIIPP) partnership, and the accompanying introduction of next
generation digital library software.
Founded in 1976 at Radcliffe, the Henry A. Murray Research
Archive is the endowed, permanent repository for quantitative and
qualitative research data at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science,
in Harvard University. The Murray preserves in perpetuity all
types of data of interest to the research community, including numerical,
video, audio, interview notes, and other types. The center
is unique among data archives in the United States in the extent
of its holdings in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed quantitativequalitative
research.
The Murray took part in an NDIIPP-funded collaboration
with four other archival partners, Data-PASS, for the purpose of
the identification and acquisition of data at risk, and the joint development
of best practices with respect to shared stewardship,
preservation, and exchange of these data. During this time, the
Dataverse Network (DVN) software was introduced, facilitating
the creation of virtual archives. The combination of institutional
collaboration and new technology lead the Murray to re-engineer
its entire acquisition process; completely rewrite its ingest,
dissemination, and other licensing agreements; and adopt a new
model for ingest, discovery, access, and presentation of its collections.
Through the Data-PASS project, the Murray has acquired a
number of important data collections. The resulting changes
within the Murray have been dramatic, including increasing its
overall rate of acquisitions by fourfold; and disseminating acquisitions
far more rapidly. Furthermore, the new licensing and
processing procedures allow a previously undreamed of level of
interoperability and collaboration with partner archives, facilitating
integrated discovery and presentation services, and joint
stewardship of collections.

Issue Date:

2009

Publisher:

Johns Hopkins University Press and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign